Disappointment Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKFLMNOPQRS ETUVWXYZA2B2C2MD2E2F 2SG2H2I2J2K2L2F2BM2Q N2O2P2Q2R2S2QT2U2LQV 2K2W2X2V2Y2Z2DV2X2QL I2A3V2B3C3V2D3E3E3C3 F3C3G3H3V2 V2| But oh I suppose she was ugly she wasn't elegant | A |
| I hadn't yearned for her often in my prayers | B |
| Yet holding her I was limp and nothing happened at all | C |
| I just lay there a disgraceful load for her bed | D |
| I wanted it she did too and yet no pleasure came | E |
| from the part of my sluggish loins that should bring joy | F |
| The girl entwined her ivory arms around my neck | G |
| her arms were whiter than the Sithonian snows | H |
| and gave me greedy kisses thrusting her fluttering tongue | I |
| and laid her eager thigh against my thigh | J |
| and whispering fond words called me the lord of her heart | K |
| and everything else that lovers murmur in joy | F |
| And yet as if chill hemlock were smeared upon my body | L |
| my numb limbs would not act out my desire | M |
| I lay there like a log a fraud a worthless weight | N |
| my body might as well have been a shadow | O |
| What will my age be like if old age ever comes | P |
| when even my youth cannot fulfill its role | Q |
| Ah I'm ashamed of my years I'm young and a man so what | R |
| I was neither young nor a man in my girlfriend's eyes | S |
| She rose like the sacred priestess who tends the undying flame | E |
| or a sister who's chastely lain at a dear brother's side | T |
| But not long ago blonde Chlide twice fair Pitho three times | U |
| and Libas three times I enjoyed without a pause | V |
| Corinna as I recall required my services | W |
| nine times in one short night and I obliged | X |
| Has some Thessalian potion made my body limp | Y |
| injuring me with noxious spells and herbs | Z |
| Did some witch hex my name scratched on crimson wax | A2 |
| and stab right through the liver with slender pins | B2 |
| By spells the grain is blighted and withers to worthless weeds | C2 |
| by blighting spells the founts run out of water | M |
| Enchantment strips the oaks of acorns vines of grapes | D2 |
| and makes fruit fall to earth from unstirred boughs | E2 |
| Such magic arts could also sap my virile powers | F2 |
| Perhaps they brought this weakness on my thighs | S |
| and shame at what happened too shame made it all the worse | G2 |
| that was the second reason for my collapse | H2 |
| Yet what a girl I looked at and touched but nothing more | I2 |
| I clung to her as closely as her gown | J2 |
| Her touch could make the Pylian sage feel young again | K2 |
| and make Tithonus friskier than his years | L2 |
| This girl fell to my lot but no man fell to hers | F2 |
| What will I ask for now in future prayers | B |
| I believe the mighty gods must rue the gift they gave | M2 |
| since I have treated it so shabbily | Q |
| Surely I wanted entry well she let me in | N2 |
| Kisses I got them To lie at her side There I was | O2 |
| What good was such great luck to gain a powerless throne | P2 |
| What did I have except a miser's gold | Q2 |
| I was like the teller of secrets thirsty at the stream | R2 |
| looking at fruits forever beyond his grasp | S2 |
| Whoever rose at dawn from the bed of a tender girl | Q |
| in a state fit to approach the sacred gods | T2 |
| I suppose she wasn't willing she didn't waste her best | U2 |
| caresses on me try everything to excite me | L |
| That girl could have aroused tough oak and hardest steel | Q |
| and lifeless boulders with her blandishments | V2 |
| She surely was a girl to rouse all living men | K2 |
| but then I was not alive no longer a man | W2 |
| What pleasure could a deaf man take in Phemius' song | X2 |
| or painted pictures bring poor Thamyras | V2 |
| But what joys I envisioned in my private mind | Y2 |
| what ways did I position and portray | Z2 |
| And yet my body lay as if untimely dead | D |
| a shameful sight limper than yesterday's rose | V2 |
| Now look When it's not needed it's vigorous and strong | X2 |
| now it asks for action and for battle | Q |
| Lie down there shame on you most wretched part of me | L |
| These promises of yours took me before | I2 |
| You trick your master you made me be caught unarmed | A3 |
| so that I suffered a great and sorry loss | V2 |
| Yet this same part my girl did not disdain to take | B3 |
| in hand fondling it with a gentle motion | C3 |
| But when she saw no skill she had could make it rise | V2 |
| and that it lay without a sign of life | D3 |
| 'You're mocking me ' she said 'You're crazy Who asked you | E3 |
| to lie down in my bed if you don't want to | E3 |
| You've come here cursed with woolen threads by some Aeaean | C3 |
| witch or worn out by some other love ' | F3 |
| And straightway she jumped up clad in a flowing gown | C3 |
| beautiful as she rushed barefoot off | G3 |
| and lest her maids should know that she had not been touched | H3 |
| began to wash concealing the disgrace | V2 |
| - | |
| translated from the Latin by Jon Corelis | V2 |
Ovid
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